To:THE EDITORS OFZA PRAVDU

A letter to the Editors

Written:Written not earlier than November 1, 1913Published:First published in 1933 inLenin Miscellany XXV.

      Sent from Cracow to St. Petersburg.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,[1977],

      Moscow,Volume 43,

      pages362-364a.Translated:Martin Parker and Bernard IsaacsTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

DearComrade Editors,

Allowme, in the columns of your newspaper, to announce our reply to
the many people from the Far North, the West, East and other places, who
have written to us for information about the liquidators’ “campaign”
against the “insurance” expert, ComradeX.

Theliquidators accused him of duplicity, of serving both the employers
and the
workers.[5]

Whatdoes theorganisationdo in the case of such accusations?

Itcalls together representatives of different bodies serving the
labour movement and authorises them to investigate the matter. That is what
it did. Thefindingsof the committee of representatives fromfivebodies
(1. the Editorial Board ofPravda;
2. the Editorial Board ofProsveshcheniye;
3. the Editorial Board of the Polish Marxist organ;
4. the six Social-Democratic deputies in the Duma;
5. the Chair man of the Metalworkers’ Union) were published in No. 12 ofZa Pravdufor
			     October 17.[1]

Thecommittee found,

——thatthe allegation of the liquidators“is
untrue”;

——-thatX.,having given up working for the
employers, thereby fulfilled his duty.

Inthe previous issue (No. 11 ofZa Pravdufor October 16)
A. Vitimsky made it amply clear that X. was “guilty” only of leaving the
employers to serve the labour movement. Vitimsky added that he had
communicated to the secretary ofZa Pravduthenames of the
liquidatorsworking assecretaries of employers’
			    bodies.[2]

Andwhat did the liquidators reply? They made no at tempt to deny
either Vitimsky’s statement or the fact that X. had given up working for
the employers.

Nordid they attempt to form any kind of committeefrom among “their own” seven deputies, or from any trade union,
or from any “leading body” of Letts, Jews or Caucasians.

Theydid nothing of the kind!

Peopledevoted to the organisation set up a committee, investigate the
matter and adopt a decision.

Theliberal hacks ofNovaya Rabochaya(??)Gazeta, who
are independent of the workers’ organisations, are continuing their
campaign of vicious lies and slander!! They are trying to fool simpletons
and ignoramuses by accusing X. of “duplicity” on the grounds that he
secretlybegan, under a pseudonym, to help the workers, though hehad not yet given uphis job for the
			     employers!![3]

Clearly,the workers are turning away with disgust from these
contemptible anonymous slanderers from the liquidators’ rag of a
newspaper, which is supported by the bourgeoisie.

Butthat is not enough. Turning away is not enough. A shameless smear
campaign against a person is anolddevice of the liquidators, who
are out todestroythe organisations of the workers.

Noorganisationis possiblewithout anorganisationalrebuff to such a method of political
“struggle”. What should such an organisational rebuff consist in?

Everyworker must demand that the liquidators, from whom Marxists have
turned away with contempt, should set up a committee of “their own” from
“their” seven members, their “own” “leading body” of Jews, Letts,
Caucasians,etc. Let them try to arrive at “their own” decision
and communicate it to the International. Then we shall brand these
slanderous rascals before the whole world.

Whilethese scoundrels, these dirty characters, are hiding behind
anonymous articles in the liquidators’ newspaper, letevery
unionof workers charge its executive with the investigation of this
matter, by collecting all documents and information from everywhere, bycheckingthe decision of theMarxist committeeoffive bodiesand adopting a decision oftheir own.

Universalcondemnation of the slanderers, a universaldemand: “Retract your base slander, or we shall not let you enter a single
organisation”—that should be the reply of the working class, the
organisational reply to the wreckers of the organisation.

Thisquestion of principle should be raised in the Duma.

P.S.IfZa Pravdais closed down, youmusttone downfivefold, become more legal and tamer. Thiscanand
should be done. Write the way they do inVoprosy
Strakhovaniya[6]and establishyour owncensorship. For
God’s sake, do this, otherwise you will just ruin the business.

[1]Thisrefers to the article (unsigned) “Liars!”—Ed.

[2]Thisrefers to the article “On ‘Criminals’” byA. Vitimsky
(M. S. Olminsky).—Ed.

[3]ArticlesinNovaya Rabochaya Gazeta: “Call Them to Account”
(in Nos. 55 and 56) and “To the Pillory!” (in No. 60).—Ed.

[4]Thisletter was signed also by L. B. Kamenev and
G. Y. Zinoviev.—Ed.

[5]X—K. A. Komarovsky (B. G. Dansky). He joined the
R.S.D.L.P. in 1911, wrote forZvezdaandPravdaand took
part in the insurance movement; in 1913–14 ho was a member of the
Editorial Board of the Bolshevik journalVoprosy Strakhovaniya. In
order to discredit the Bolsheviks the liquidators accused Dansky of working
in the bourgeois press. The Party committee investigating this accusation
found that Dansky, since joining the ranks of the Bolshevik Party, had
ceased working in the bourgeois press, and therefore recognised him as an
honest member of the Party and qualified the accusation levelled against
him by the liquidators as slander.

Thequestion of Komarovsky was dealt with a second time by a committee
consisting of representatives of the newspaperZa Pravduand the
journalsProsveshcheniyeandVoprosy Strakhovaniya,
6 worker deputies, in the Duma, members of the staff of the Priboi
Publishers and a representative of the “organised Marxist workers”. The
committee’s findings, published in No. 32 of the newspaperZa
Pravdufor November 10, 1913, under the heading “An End to Slander”,
stated that “the committee sees no obstacles whatever to X’s continued
contributions to Marxist publications and to his presence in comrades’
midst”.

Theliquidators’ smear campaign against Komarovsky was mentioned by
Lenin in the Report of the C.C., R.S.D.L.P. to the Brussels Conference (see
present edition, Vol. 20, p. 524).

[6]VoprosyStrakhovaniya(Insurance Question)—a Bolshevik legal
journal, appeared in St. Petersburg at intervals from October 1913 to March
1918. Among its contributors were prominentorganisers of the insurance campaign, such as the Bolsheviks
N. A. Skrypnik, P. I. Stučka, A. N. Vinokurov and N. M. Shvernik.